Eraserhead Xiu Xiu at Gorilla: Out-Lynching Lynch

Formed in 2002 by songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Jamie Stewart and now accompanied by Angela Seo, Xiu Xiu have spent the last two and a half decades as one of the most consistently compelling bands in experimental music. They've moved freely between experimental rock, electronic (A Promise), folk (Fag Patrol), pop (Fabulous Muscles), post-industrial (Girl With Basket of Fruit), and neo-psych (13" Frank Beltrame Italian Stiletto With Bison Horn Grips). They used a Nintendo DS synth software pack to produce their 2010 album Dear God, I Hate Myself. They made an experimental album from field recordings of 999 pink vibrators. That boundary-pushing attitude is most apparent in their new performance art piece inspired by David Lynch’s Eraserhead: Eraserhead Xiu Xiu.

The show follows naturally from the band’s long-standing relationship with Lynch’s work. In 2016, the band released a cover album of songs from Lynch's Twin Peaks, originally composed by Angelo Badalamenti, after premiering the covers at an art exhibition the previous year. It took the dark jazz sound of the original and morphed it into an experimental rock context, with outstanding versions of tracks such as 'Laura Palmer's Theme', 'Into the Night', and especially 'Falling'. They could've just settled for touring that album again after Lynch's passing. But, to quote the band, they "decided to go deeper" and adapt another of Lynch's works, his seminal film Eraserhead.

Released in 1977, Eraserhead marked David Lynch’s feature-length debut and is one of the most unsettling films ever made. Shot in stark black-and-white and bathed in industrial dread, the film follows everyman Henry Spencer as he grapples with anxiety, isolation, and an overwhelming fear of parenthood after the birth of his grotesquely deformed child. It's considered a surrealist, almost narrative-less masterpiece and is rife with material for interpretation, especially for a band like Xiu Xiu whose work thrives on ambiguity and unease. It's no surprise that so many fans were excited when the tour was announced.

One disappointment— through obviously no fault of the band — was the venue layout. Gorilla just isn't the right venue for a visual art performance — it's too crowded, and the crowd was forced to stand for the entire performance which doesn't really make sense for this type of material. Half of the view of the projected visuals was blocked by the tops of people’s heads, causing a wish to erase a head, so to speak. A seated venue would've been perfect for this show. Still, the crowd were certainly very excited as the opener, experimental poetry outfit Burn Into Sleep, walked on-stage.

Credit: Tarimobowei Tobolayefa @ The Mancunion

Spoken-word frontwoman Lauren McLean performed for just under thirty minutes with instrumental accompaniment from two other performers. An icy piano with some crackling, hypnotic minimal wave gave way into an abstract tale involving themes of death, sex, and longing, while droning bass, organ stabs, and a sinister saxophone kept the audience on their toes. Overall, the set showed promise, although the narrative could have been more structured and focused, a la Suicide's 'Frankie Teardrop' or Slint's 'Good Morning, Captain'.

Backlit by bright pink, Jamie and Angela of Xiu Xiu walked onto the stage to applause. Immediately, the mood was set with a darkly ambient tone and visuals of bubbling earth, followed by eclectic visuals of objects such as milk, pregnant bellies, distorted human faces, and, oddly, chickens. Scary chickens. These seemingly motherly themes show an alternate perspective to the film, which mainly focuses on Henry's struggle with fatherhood. Perhaps it could be argued that this takes more of a focus on Mary's motherly role, an interesting twist on the film's themes.

The set got weirder as it entered its middle section. Lines of dialogue (Mary's "SHUT UP!" and the pencil factory manager's "OKAY PAUL!") were twisted into nightmarish yelled mantras, first from Angela and then from Jamie. Sound was manipulated using unconventional tools, including a balloon and a rubber chicken, injecting a warped, darkly comic texture into the chaos. The visuals kept morphing into images that seemed slightly familiar to the source material, yet were never quite recognisable as such. 

Credit: Tarimobowei Tobolayefa @ The Mancunion

One of the evening’s most affecting moments came when Jamie delivered a fragile, heart-breaking rendition of 'In Heaven', the only vocal song from the original film, while the background enveloped both performers in white. It was a moment of stillness amid an otherwise abrasive sensory onslaught. Of course, Jamie immediately hit the audience with some tonal whiplash by violently throwing an assortment of bottles into a bucket, smashing each one as the duo had smashed each audience member's expectations with the material.

Overall, the show was fantastic. Lynch's films are often thought of as a dream-like version of a regular film, and, in that way, this show can be thought of a dream-like version of Eraserhead. Its 45-minute length was perfect, never feeling like it was wasting time or going too quickly. It's obvious both members of the group have a great amount of respect for the film and for Lynch himself, channelling his vision even despite his passing. It's also further confirmation that, decades into their career, Xiu Xiu remain unwilling to make anything easy on their audience.